Orthodox Churches

On October 4, 2015, a new social and missionary center for work with deaf and hearing-impaired people was opened at the Church of All Saints of Russia in the Novokosino district of eastern Moscow, reports Patriarchia.ru. A Divine Liturgy with sign language interpretation was celebrated at the church in Novokosino on that day. The service was headed by Bishop Panteleimon (Shatov) of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for the Church Charity and Social Ministry. From that day on every Saturday Divine Liturgies at this church will be accompanied with sign language interpretation.

Kizlyar, Dagestan (or Daghestan: an autonomous republic in SW Russia, on western shore of the Caspian Sea), October 3, 2015

On October 2, 2015, in the town of Kizlyar of the Dagestan Republic, Bishop Varlaam of Makhachkala and Grozny headed the procession of the Cross from the St. Nicholas Church to the St. George’s Cathedral; it was timed to coincide with the 1000th anniversary of repose of Holy Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, and the 280th anniversary of the city’s foundation, reports the Makhachkala Diocese’s official website.

A recently discovered rare Byzantine-era mosaic will be publicly displayed for the first time at a festival in southern Israel.

The 1,500-year-old mosaic was discovered during an archaeological excavation in Kiryat Gat two years ago and will be permanently displayed in the southern Israeli town starting Thursday, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced in a news release.

New fragments have been discovered from the earliest known Bulgarian-made icon – a ceramic icon of St. Theodore Stratilates dating back to the 10th century AD, the height of the First Bulgarian Empire (632/680-1018 AD) – and the icon itself has been restored for the first time since its discovery in the early 20th century.